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Amoeblog Recent Posts50 Essential Albums Released in 2014<p><em>Aaron Detroit, Buyer at Amoeba Hollywood. I've worked in Hollywood for ten years, but started my time with Amoeba - way back in 1998 - &nbsp;at the San Francisco store. Here is my extensive list of new essential listening, released in 2014. There is a wide range of genres and artists represented here because musical passion should not be static.</em><br />
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>1. <a href="http://www.amoeba.com/music/artist/140226">Swans</a> - <em><a href="http://www.amoeba.com/to-be-kind-lp-swans/albums/3198003/">To Be Kind</a> </em></strong></span>(Young God)<br />
<em>To Be Kind,</em> Swans&rsquo; 3rd LP since their 2010 reformation (and 13th overall,) is an unlikely triumph after 2012&rsquo;s seemingly unmatchable masterpiece, <em>The Seer.</em> Any trepidation one might have about the sprawling triple-LP&rsquo;s intimidating track lengths should evaporate under it&rsquo;s hypnotizing ebb-and-flow of mental blues, super-honed grooves, manic clatter and hushed passages; all of which are eventually crushed by monolithic waves of majesty. Nothing short of classic.<br />
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>&nbsp;2.</strong> <strong><a href="http://www.amoeba.com/music/artist/155877">Carla B</a></strong></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong><a href="http://www.amoeba.com/music/artist/155877">ozulich</a> - <a href="http://www.amoeba.com/boy-180-gram-vinyl-lp-carla-bozulich/albums/3091475/"><em>Boy</em></a> </strong></span>(Constellation)<strong><em><img width="150" height="150" align="right" alt="" src="http://www.amoeba.com/admin/uploads/blog/Aaron_D/Boy.jpg" style="border: 8px solid white" /></em></strong><br />
<em>Boy</em> is Carla Bozulich&rsquo;s (of <a href="http://www.amoeba.com/music/artist/201309">Ethyl Meatplow</a>, <a href="http://www.amoeba.com/music/artist/179679">Geraldine Fibbers</a> and <a href="http://www.amoeba.com/music/artist/155878">Evangelista</a>-renown) 3rd solo affair, but in a lot of ways it feels like her first. Bozulich pours her famed, devastating whiskey-voice into a cocktail of funeral country, death blues and industrial noise that sticks to your guts. Carla herself refers to this LP as her &ldquo;pop record,&rdquo; and if that's a true description, we could sure use a whole lot more &ldquo;pop&rdquo; albums like <em>Boy</em>. Don&rsquo;t overlook this one.<br />
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Fri, 05 Dec 2014 17:20:00 GMThttp://www.amoeba.com/rss-link/blog/2014/12/black-light-district/50-essential-albums-released-in-2014.html50 Essential Albums Released in 2013<p><em>Aaron Detroit, Buyer at Amoeba Hollywood. I've worked in Hollywood for nine years, but started my time with Amoeba - way back in 1998 - &nbsp;at the San Francisco store. Here is my extensive list of new essential listening, released in 2013. There is a wide range of genres and artists represented here because musical passion shouldn't be static!</em><br />
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1. <strong><span style="font-size: medium; "><a href="http://www.amoeba.com/music/artist/151748" target="_blank">The Knife</a> - </span><em><span style="font-size: medium; "><a href="http://www.amoeba.com/shaking-the-habitual-deluxe-edition-cd-the-knife/albums/2866044/" target="_blank">Shaking the Habitual</a></span></em><br />
<a href="http://www.amoeba.com/shaking-the-habitual-deluxe-edition-cd-the-knife/albums/2866044/" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.amoeba.com/admin/uploads/blog/sth.jpg" style="border-width: 1px; border-style: solid; float: left; width: 150px; height: 150px; margin: 7px;" alt="The Knife Shaking the Habitual" /></a> &nbsp; &nbsp;</strong><br />
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After a seven-year hiatus (not including 2010&rsquo;s collaborative opera with Matt Sims and Planningtorock,) the Swedish sister/brother duo crafted something utterly singular with this sprawling, conceptual, yet immensely thrilling triple-LP. <em>Habitual</em> lyrically challenges gender constructs and unchecked privilege against visceral (and sometimes monstrous) techno that also refuses any box you throw over it.&nbsp;</p>
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<a href="http://www.amoeba.com/field-of-reeds-cd-these-new-puritans/albums/2953809/" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: medium; "><img src="http://www.amoeba.com/admin/uploads/blog/Aaron_D/image.jpg" style="border-width: 1px; border-style: solid; float: right; width: 150px; height: 150px; margin: 7px;" alt="These New Puritans Field of Reeds" /> </span></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium; ">2. </span><strong><span style="font-size: medium; "><a href="http://www.amoeba.com/music/artist/151156/releases#/view-list/order-released/direction-desc/page-1" target="_blank">These New Puritans</a> - </span><a href="http://www.amoeba.com/field-of-reeds-cd-these-new-puritans/albums/2953809/" target="_blank"><em><span style="font-size: medium; ">Field of Reeds</span></em></a></strong></div>
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<div>&nbsp;No guitars, no dubstep breaks, no angular post-punk posturing. Jack Barnett &amp; Co. look to 20th century composers and Fado for inspiration on their third LP. Woodwinds, brass, field recordings, a magnetic resonator piano and additional vocals from Portuguese vocalist Elisa Rodrigues move TNP into a whole other category of artist, far away from the faceless NME hordes they once mingled with.&nbsp;</div>
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<span style="font-size: medium; ">3.&nbsp;</span><strong><span style="font-size: medium; "><a href="http://www.amoeba.com/music/artist/28524" target="_blank">David Bowie</a> - </span></strong><em><strong><span style="font-size: medium; "><a href="http://www.amoeba.com/the-next-day-deluxe-edition-cd-david-bowie/albums/2850045/" target="_blank">The Next Day</a></span></strong></em></div>
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<div>&nbsp;<a href="http://www.amoeba.com/the-next-day-deluxe-edition-cd-david-bowie/albums/2850045/" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.amoeba.com/admin/uploads/blog/Aaron_D/David-Bowie-The-Next-Day1.jpg" style="border-width: 1px; border-style: solid; float: left; width: 150px; height: 150px; margin: 7px;" alt="David Bowie The Next Day" /></a>Quite honestly, it&rsquo;s his best since his last great LP --33 years ago--<em>Scary Monsters</em>. This isn&rsquo;t anything but Bowie being himself, but the emotional weight of his lyrics give the new tracks a vitality missing from much of his work in the previous decade. It&rsquo;s exhilarating throughout, with most of his famous tropes (Space!!) sounding somehow fresh. New classics like the title track, &ldquo;Dirty Boys,&rdquo; the Scott Walker-nodding &ldquo;Heat,&rdquo; plus the stellar Bowie-doing-Morrissey-doing-his-best-Bowie moment on &ldquo;You Feel So Lonely You Could Die.&rdquo;&nbsp;</div>
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<span style="font-size: medium; "><a href="http://www.amoeba.com/inheritors-cd-james-holden/albums/2957931/" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.amoeba.com/admin/uploads/blog/Aaron_D/TheInheritors.jpg" style="border-width: 1px; border-style: solid; float: right; width: 150px; height: 150px; margin: 7px;" alt="Holden The Inheritors" /></a><br />
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Sat, 30 Nov 2013 22:45:00 GMThttp://www.amoeba.com/rss-link/blog/2013/11/black-light-district/50-essential-albums-released-in-2013.html50 Essential Albums Released in 2012<p><span style="font-size: small; "><em>Aaron Detroit, Buyer at Amoeba Hollywood. I've worked in Hollywood for eight years, but started my time with Amoeba - way back in 1998 - &nbsp;at the San Francisco store. This is my extensive list of 2012 releases that I fell in love with or had serious affairs over the past 365 days.</em></span><em>&nbsp;</em><span style="font-size: small;"><em>2012, for me, was a surprising and amazing year in music. Nearly all 50 releases here could have been a Top-Ten contender almost any other year, and the Top Ten is full of records that could easily have been #1.</em></span></p>
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<p style="text-align: center; " class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: xx-large; "><u><strong><em><span style="font-size: x-large; ">50 Essential Albums of 2012</span></em></strong></u></span></p>
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<span style="font-size: large; ">1. &nbsp;<span style="font-size: x-large; "><strong>SCOTT WALKER </strong><em><strong><a href="http://www.amoeba.com/music/album/2149627">Bish Bosch</a> </strong></em></span><span style="font-size: small; ">(4AD)&nbsp;</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large; "><span style="font-size: small;">The 6-year-long wait was <em>well</em> worth it, as is usually the case with Walker. This isn't the latest indie background music du jour - It's an Absurdist's symphony. Melody is eschewed for repetition, but you still walk away with the damned thing in your head. E-bows, machetes as percussion and disturbing (as well as amusing) scatological metaphors are some of the unlikely ingredients that make up this terrifying (and weirdly infectious) beauty. There's really nothing else like it, so enjoy figuring it out for the rest of your life. &nbsp;<br />
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Wed, 05 Dec 2012 19:00:00 GMThttp://www.amoeba.com/rss-link/blog/2012/12/black-light-district/50-essential-albums-released-in-2012.html50 Favorite Albums of 2011<em><br />
Aaron Detroit, Buyer at Amoeba Hollywood. As you may know, I've worked in Hollywood for 8 years, but started my time with Amoeba - way back in 1998 - &nbsp;at the San Francisco store. This is my extensive list of 2011 releases that I fell in love with or had hot and heavy affairs with this year.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><u><strong><span style="font-size: x-large;"><em>50 Favorite Albums of 2011</em></span></strong></u></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><u><strong><br />
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<li class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Wild Beasts <i>Smother</i></b></span></li>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in;"><img align="left" alt="" height="150" style="border: 8px solid white;" width="150" src="http://www.amoeba.com/admin/uploads/blog/Aaron_D/2011picks/wildbeasts.jpg" />In 2008,&nbsp;Brit quartet Wild Beasts released their shaky-legged -but-&nbsp;stunning debut, <em>Limbo Panto</em>. In the four years since, the band has released two thoroughly dazzling masterpiece full-lengths of deceptively delicate indie rock, lyrically bent towards looking in the dark recesses of the heart and libido, largely sung by co-vocalist Hayden Thorpe in his trademark falsetto. <em>Smother </em>finds the band adding a new restraint to their arrangements that allows the tension in the lyrics to hit with hair-on-end chills.&nbsp;It is a singular LP&nbsp;by a singular band that I expect will eventually reach a Radiohead-level stratosphere.&nbsp;<o:p></o:p></p><div style="clear: both;"><a style="font-size:13px;" href="/blog/2011/12/black-light-district/50-favorite-albums-of-2011.html">Continue reading...</a></div>http://www.amoeba.com/rss-link/blog/2011/12/black-light-district/50-favorite-albums-of-2011.html
Sun, 18 Dec 2011 08:00:00 GMThttp://www.amoeba.com/rss-link/blog/2011/12/black-light-district/50-favorite-albums-of-2011.htmlCurrent 93 Celebrates Its 28th Year with a New Album and Three Box Sets<a href="http://www.andrewliles.com/"><img align="right" src="http://www.amoeba.com/admin/uploads/blog/Aaron_D/c93_baalstormsingomega.jpeg" style="border: 8px solid white; width: 289px; height: 260px;" alt="" /></a><a href="http://brainwashed.com/c93/"><strong><br />
Current 93</strong></a> began a new revitalized era with the release of last year&rsquo;s quite exceptional<em> </em><strong><em>Aleph at Hallucinatory Mountain</em>. </strong>The long running project helmed by the forever impish <strong>David Tibet</strong> introduced dark swirling pools of amped-to-11 guitars to its starry-eyed mix of esoteric tripping and psychedelic visions alongside Tibet&rsquo;s more recent languid and typically pensive compositions.<em> Mountain </em>also marked a new C93 era in that it is the first full-length release to fully delve into Tibet&rsquo;s most recent obsession: apocryphal Christian texts written in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coptic_language">Coptic</a>. Tibet used his inspiration from these ancient texts to write his fever dream poetry that is, as with most C93 albums, the focus of <em>Mountain.</em> This month welcomed the release of <em>Aleph</em>&rsquo;s follow-up, <strong><em>Baalstorm, Sing Omega</em></strong>. <em>Baalstorm</em> sees the happy return of <em>Mountain</em> collaborators and Tibet&rsquo;s post-<a href="http://www.myspace.com/michaelcashmore"><strong>Michael Cashmore</strong></a> wingmen <a href="http://www.myspace.com/jamesblackshaw"><strong>James Blackshaw</strong></a> and<a href="http://www.andrewliles.com/"><strong> Andr</strong><strong>ew Liles</strong></a> (as well as many other co-conspirators). The heavier elements on <em>Aleph</em> are replaced here by some light Eastern percussion, creepy-yet-playful outbursts of children&rsquo;s voices (either real or made to sound childlike via a pitched-up Tibet), and Liles&rsquo; atmospheric electronics. Like its predecessor, <em>Baalstorm</em> is a journey best taken all at once, but unlike <em>Mountain</em> it is a journey much more easily traveled courtesy of its majestic and less oppressive atmosphere. <br />
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<br /><div style="clear: both;"><a style="font-size:13px;" href="/blog/2010/06/black-light-district/current-93-celebrates-its-28th-year-with-a-new-album-and-three-box-sets.html">Continue reading...</a></div></div>http://www.amoeba.com/rss-link/blog/2010/06/black-light-district/current-93-celebrates-its-28th-year-with-a-new-album-and-three-box-sets.html
Thu, 01 Jul 2010 01:00:00 GMThttp://www.amoeba.com/rss-link/blog/2010/06/black-light-district/current-93-celebrates-its-28th-year-with-a-new-album-and-three-box-sets.htmlThe Cure Celebrate 20 Years of Disintegration<div style="text-align: center;"><em><img height="286" width="377" align="left" src="http://www.amoeba.com/admin/uploads/blog/Aaron_D/cure_disintegration_b06.jpg" style="border: 8px solid white;" alt="" /><br />
&ldquo;[On </em>Disintegration<em>] they thought I was being 'willfully obscure', which was an actual quote from the letter [received from the band&rsquo;s label at the time, Elektra]. Ever since then I&rsquo;ve realized that record companies don't have a fucking clue what The Cure does and what The Cure means.&quot;</em> <br />
- <strong>Robert Smith</strong>, from the book <em>Never Enough: The Story of the Cure</em> by Jeff Apter</div>
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Twenty (and some change) years later we know that <a href="http://www.thecure.com"><strong>The Cure</strong></a>&rsquo;s label bosses were indeed wrong; <a href="http://www.thecuredisintegration.com"><strong><em>Disintegration</em></strong></a> is celebrating its 20th anniversary (a year late actually &ndash; the album was released in May 1989) with the release of a remastered 3-CD deluxe edition and remastered 2LP. Today, the album remains in the unique position of being both widely considered the group&rsquo;s masterpiece among fans as well as their most commercially successful LP (containing their biggest US hit, &ldquo;Love Song,&quot; which peaked at #2 on the <em>Billboard</em> chart).<br />
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There haven&rsquo;t been a multitude of complaints over the years about the mastering of the album, so no surprise here that the main disc is just a bit louder than the original. The real appeal of the 3-CD set is the bonus material&hellip;and there is a lot of it! The second disc of rarities is compiled by Robert Smith himself (who was the only original member left in the band by the time <em>Disintegration </em>was released --<strong>Lol Tolhurst</strong> having been booted by group <img height="206" width="230" align="right" src="http://www.amoeba.com/admin/uploads/blog/Aaron_D/disintegration-deluxe-edition-art-extralarge.jpg" style="border: 8px solid white;" alt="" />consensus before its completion) and is largely made up of his instrumental home demos and band rehearsals for the album. It seems like a superfan-only venture with these lo-fi takes sans vocals, but these tracks reveal themselves to be a cohesive and seamless vision even in their infancy; The vocal-free band demo for the title track reveals an even more urgent forward flow than the album cut, with drops of synth gently shimmering in an ocean of flanged-out bass. &ldquo;Esten,&rdquo; a previously unissued demo of a never-before-released song (of which there are 4 here), is a bit more lively and feral than its siblings that eventually found a home on the album, perhaps a bit more like their 'willfully poppy' tracks from the <em>Head on the Door</em>-era. The absolute stand-out from the <em>Rarities</em> disc, however, is a solo home demo by Smith covering <strong>Wendy Waldman</strong>&rsquo;s &ldquo;Pirate Ships.&rdquo; It is a gorgeous lilting sea shanty-like lullaby with ocean sound effects, harmonium and a lovely understated vocal from Smith. With the refrain of &ldquo;Far away/Far away child,&rdquo; the track could be culled from one of the several rumored-but-never-surfaced children&rsquo;s albums Smith has allegedly recorded. <br />
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Thu, 17 Jun 2010 00:45:00 GMThttp://www.amoeba.com/rss-link/blog/2010/06/black-light-district/the-cure-celebrate-20-years-of-disintegration.htmlIt's Cheaper Used: Classic and Out-of-Print Goth & Industrial Titles in Stock at Amoeba HollywoodLooking to stock back up on some dark classics? Maybe looking to try something you overlooked long ago? Well, if you&rsquo;re a fan of classic Industrial or Goth, or just looking to be adventurous, we&rsquo;ve got some great deals on some hand-picked, used and out-of-print titles for you in our little dark corner of the Goth/Industrial section at Amoeba Music Hollywood*. <br />
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<strong>Front 242</strong> <strong><em>Tyranny &gt;For You&lt; </em></strong><br />
Ten years after the group&rsquo;s genesis, Front 242 released their most commercially successful album with their 1991 major-label debut,<em> Tyranny &gt;For You&lt;</em>. Though not as solid as the band&rsquo;s 1988 essential <em>Front by Front</em> , <em>Tyranny</em> is a relentless and c<img align="right" src="http://www.amoeba.com/admin/uploads/blog/Aaron_D/front242_1991.jpg" style="border: 8px solid white; width: 204px; height: 139px;" alt="" />harged slab full of EBM bangers including &ldquo;Moldavia,&rdquo; &ldquo;Tyranny (for You),&rdquo; and the club hit &ldquo;Rhythm of Time, &ldquo; which some may recall from a memorable scene in the 1992 camp classic film <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LclFf6HrDkI"><em>Single White Female</em></a>. The album has surprisingly aged very well and sounds pretty damn great nearly 20 years later -- the slow-burn &ldquo;Sacrifice,&rdquo; the minimal pulse and melodic sway of &ldquo;Soul Manager,&rdquo; or the chaotic blasts of hidden track &ldquo;Untitled&rdquo; (there are 3 unlisted &lsquo;hidden&rsquo; tracks here &ndash;every bit as intense as the rest of the album). Listening to this album now, really makes me wish some youngins would mine these sounds again. <em>Tyranny &gt;For You&lt;</em> is currently out of print on CD but Amoeba Music Hollywood has it <strong>in stock used for just $4.99!*</strong><br />
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Thu, 10 Jun 2010 00:03:00 GMThttp://www.amoeba.com/rss-link/blog/2010/06/black-light-district/it-s-cheaper-used-classic-and-out-of-print-goth-industrial-titles-in-stock-at-amoeba-hollywood.htmlForget Chillwave; Wild Nothing's 'Gemini' is Heartfelt Dream Pop<img height="359" align="left" width="359" alt="Wild Nothing Gemini" style="border: 8px solid white;" src="http://www.amoeba.com/admin/uploads/blog/Aaron_D/wild-nothing-gemini-cover-art-1.jpg" /><br />
&ldquo;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chillwave"><strong>Chillwave</strong></a>&rdquo; in 2010 is as embarassing a genre tag as &ldquo;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoegazing"><strong>Shoegaze</strong></a>&rdquo; or &ldquo;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grunge"><strong>Grunge</strong></a>&rdquo; was in 1991. It sounds more like a vile blue-colored slushy drink from a convenience store than a musical genre. I feel bad for the contemporary <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream_pop"><strong>Dream Pop</strong></a> bands that have to endure being cast as such. Chillwave is the new Nu-Rave, i.e., nothing more than loosely similar bands being forced into corners by lazy bedroom bloggers. While many young bands, as of late, have been heavily borrowing sonic textures, recording aesthetics, and ideas from those bleary bands of the late &lsquo;80&rsquo;s and early 90&rsquo;s, Virginia&rsquo;s one-man band of <strong>Jack Tatum,</strong> aka <a href="http://www.myspace.com/wildnothing"><strong>Wild Nothing</strong></a>, has succeeded in making a record that pings the right amount of lilting and forlorn nostalgia via its familiar Dream Pop haze yet is complex enough not to fatigue attentive ears. <em>Gemini</em>, released this week, has all the shimmer of early Cocteau Twins, the bounce of mid-era Cure, and the rough charm of a C86-era mixtape. This is the sort of record I wish <a href="http://www.myspace.com/beachhousemusic"><strong>Beach House</strong></a> would make. <br />
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<em>Gemini</em>&rsquo;s success as a great Dream Pop album is also highlighted by what it is lacking. Tatum avoids the cloying cutsey tweeness of last year&rsquo;s retro-darlings <a href="http://www.myspace.com/thepainsofbeingpureatheart"><strong>The Pains of Being </strong><strong>Pure At Heart</strong></a> and instead delivers a breezy<img height="186" align="right" width="302" alt="wild nothing Jack Tatum" style="border: 8px solid white;" src="http://www.amoeba.com/admin/uploads/blog/Aaron_D/jacktatum_wildnothing2.jpg" /> melancholy. Sincerity is a breath of fresh air here as well -- while essentially postmodern because of its pastiche, <em>Gemini</em> obviously springs from Tatum&rsquo;s heart, carefully avoiding the irony so many young bands rely on and hide behind. On the slow-crawl of &ldquo;Pessimist,&rdquo; Tatum wears it on his sleeve with the line &ldquo;Boys Don&rsquo;t Cry/They Just Die&rdquo; without a hint of a grin. However, the album is never oppressive or dreary, even when Tatum is bummed out; it truly is a great feat to make a record that plays perfectly on a summer drive to the beach or home alone on a rainy day. <br />
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Thu, 03 Jun 2010 21:00:00 GMThttp://www.amoeba.com/rss-link/blog/2010/06/black-light-district/forget-chillwave-wild-nothing-s-gemini-is-heartfelt-dream-pop.htmlAmoeba Hollywood's New and Featured Goth / Industrial Releases<strong><img align="left" alt="" style="border: 8px solid white; width: 193px; height: 193px;" src="http://www.amoeba.com/admin/uploads/blog/Aaron_D/romenoscahnts.jpg" /></strong><span style="font-size: larger;"><strong><br />
Rome</strong> <em>Nos Chants Perdus</em>[Trisol] CD</span><br />
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Over a series of remarkable concept albums, the Luxembourgish band Rome has developed a totally unique &lsquo;poetry of longing&rsquo; which rings out from the dark melancholic mist of rootlessness and which gives expression to a comprehensive feeling of modern forlornness. The protagonists of their music are the unintentional &lsquo;rebels&rsquo; of <strong>Camus</strong> (<em>L&rsquo;Homme r&eacute;volt&eacute;</em>), contemporaries from the turbulent epochs of the 20th century: the banished and the hunted, the despised and the misunderstood &ndash; ceaseless enemies of dictatorship. This is what the songs of Rome frontman <strong>Jerome Reuter</strong> are about, rooted firmly in the tradition of his declared heroes <strong>Jacques Brel</strong>, <strong>L&eacute;o Ferr&eacute;</strong>, <strong>Tom Waits</strong> and <strong>Nick Cave</strong>. With regard to content, Rome derives inspiration from world literature and an observant listener will be able to detect references to Camus, <strong>Proust</strong>, <strong>Sartre</strong> and <strong>Jean Genet</strong>. Following hot on the heels of their EP <strong><em>L&rsquo;Assassi</em>n</strong>, the band assiduously develops its sound further on a minimalistic yet richly textured, simple singer-songwriter album <em>Nos Chants Perdus</em> -- slowly leaving the apocalyptic realms behind them. Catchy melodies impress themselves on the memory and Reuter&rsquo;s gothic tenor is currently peerless. Apart from the French song titles the lyrics are primarily performed in English, while the music is constructed primarily with acoustic instruments: piano, guitar, touches of strings, accordion. They have largely relinquished electronic elements, which marks <em>Nos Chants Perdus</em> out as a further and remarkable stride in the work of the band. Check out samples of Rome&rsquo;s previous efforts <a href="http://www.amoeba.com/blog/2009/12/black-light-district/black-light-district-s-best-dark-music-albums-of-the-00-s.html">here</a> and <a href="http://www.amoeba.com/blog/2009/12/black-light-district/black-light-district-s-top-dark-music-albums-of-2009.html">here</a>.&nbsp;<br />
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Thu, 27 May 2010 00:15:00 GMThttp://www.amoeba.com/rss-link/blog/2010/05/black-light-district/amoeba-hollywood-s-new-and-featured-goth-industrial-releases.htmlChrist Vs. Warhol's Impressive Debut Disc<img height="300" align="left" width="239" alt="Christ vs. Warhol" style="border: 8px solid white;" src="http://www.amoeba.com/admin/uploads/blog/Aaron_D/christvwarhol.jpg" /><br />
Although the members of Los Angeles-based <a href="http://www.myspace.com/christvswarholmusic"><strong>Christ vs. Warhol</strong></a> all sport mohawks and/or various body modifications, there&rsquo;s nothing scrappy about the quartet&rsquo;s debut full-length disc, <strong><em>Dissent</em></strong>. Instead, one will find this well-oiled 4-headed beast firing on all cylinders on 13 solidly produced and politically-minded tracks. <br />
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There has been a glut of silly, style-focused and, frankly, <em>dumb</em> Deathrock bands vying for attention for the last few years and for a genre that isn&rsquo;t all that crowded, that&rsquo;s a pretty sad state. Christ vs. Warhol avoids these pitfalls by mostly avoiding navel-gazing and instead delivering incendiary, topical and thoughtful lyrics bathed in cascading riffs and wet bass lines. Vocalist and lyricist <strong>Eveghost</strong> (formerly of <strong>Scarlet&rsquo;s Remains</strong>) aims her firing sights at a multitude of topics, like blind consumerism, media-manufactured beauty standards, talk radio windbags and their corporate bosses as well as those <span style="font-size: larger;"><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><span style="font-size: larger;">&ldquo;tossing tea into the harbor/&hellip;masquerading as the voice of the working man.&rdquo;</span>&nbsp;</strong></em></div>
Her voice alters between a witchy affected howl to an occasional but impressive<strong> Liz Fraser</strong>-esque swoop. <br />
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<em>Dissent</em> was produced by <strong>Faith &amp; The Muse</strong>&rsquo;s <strong>William Faith,</strong> which<img height="301" align="right" width="317" alt="Christ vs. Warhol" style="border: 8px solid white;" src="http://www.amoeba.com/admin/uploads/blog/Aaron_D/christvwarhol-cover.jpg" /> probably explains some of the shimmer and gleam the album carries. His presence is certainly felt on the opening track, &ldquo;A New Model of the Universe,&rdquo; a dirtied Dream Pop instrumental, all tribal drums and soaring guitar effects bookended by chiming finger cymbals. &ldquo;And If You Forget,&rdquo; one of the few tracks concerning personal issues (here it&rsquo;s a damaged lover) has a similar dreamy-lean with a swirling arrangement and Eveghost hitting the notes in her lovely upper register. The band excels on these airier tracks; it&rsquo;d be interesting to see the band focus on and hone these elements for future efforts. <br />
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Thu, 20 May 2010 20:15:00 GMThttp://www.amoeba.com/rss-link/blog/2010/05/black-light-district/christ-vs-warhol-s-impressive-debut-disc.html'Out of a Black Cloud' Comes a Great Album: Ruby Throat's Sophmore Triumph<a href="http://www.amoeba.com/blog/2010/05/black-light-district/amoeba-hollywood-s-featured-and-upcoming-goth-industrial-vinyl-releases.html"><img height="400" align="right" width="292" alt="Ruby Throat KatieJane Garside" style="border: 8px solid white;" src="http://www.amoeba.com/admin/uploads/blog/Aaron_D/katiejanegarside.jpg" /><br />
Last week, I posted details</a> about the new limited deluxe vinyl edition of Folk-Noir duo <strong>Ruby Throat</strong>&rsquo;s cult-classic debut, <strong><em>The Ventriloquist</em>.</strong> This week , Amoeba Hollywood has just received quantity of Ruby Throat's sophomore full-length recording, <strong><em>Out of a Black Cloud Came a Bird</em>. </strong>The album was released in a limited Special Edition CD run in November 2009, but has now been issued in this standard digipak CD edition. <br />
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Ruby Throat vocalist <a href="http://www.katiejanegarside.com"><strong>KatieJane Garside</strong></a> became quite prolific this past decade with three separate musical projects running in tandem&nbsp; with each other (as well as a one-off LP with <strong>Hector Zazou</strong> - R.I.P); the long-running <strong>Queenadreena</strong> with former<strong> Daisy Chainsaw</strong> cohort <strong>Crispin Gray</strong>, her solo project <strong>Lalleshwari</strong>, and Ruby Throat with guitarist <strong>Chris Wittingham</strong>. While Queenadreena is a bombastic, cathartic and lustfully-charged rush bemoaning innocence lost, Lalleshwari revealed a more rudimentary, internal and transitive process of the artist. With Ruby Throat, Garside draws the characters in her songs as reflective, self-aware and with a sense to the nature of their struggles, though still very much struggling. <br />
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<em>Black Cloud</em> finds Garside's unsettling fairytale-stylings firmly rooted in her usual but always powerful psychosexual minefield of hushed lullabye, bluesy belting and bat-shit babelouge. Wittingham's <img height="256" align="left" width="256" alt="Ruby Throat Out of A Black Cloud" style="border: 8px solid white;" src="http://www.amoeba.com/admin/uploads/blog/Aaron_D/rubyblackcloud.JPG" />psychedelic soundscapes and dreamy dark Americana-influenced arrangements are richer and fuller here but with the same minimalist bent and care as on the group&rsquo;s debut. <br />
<br /><div style="clear: both;"><a style="font-size:13px;" href="/blog/2010/05/black-light-district/-out-of-a-black-cloud-comes-a-great-album-ruby-throat-s-sophmore-triumph.html">Continue reading...</a></div>http://www.amoeba.com/rss-link/blog/2010/05/black-light-district/-out-of-a-black-cloud-comes-a-great-album-ruby-throat-s-sophmore-triumph.html
Thu, 13 May 2010 03:15:00 GMThttp://www.amoeba.com/rss-link/blog/2010/05/black-light-district/-out-of-a-black-cloud-comes-a-great-album-ruby-throat-s-sophmore-triumph.htmlAmoeba Hollywood's Featured and Upcoming Goth / Industrial Vinyl ReleasesWith a new boom of appreciation for long-playing vinyl in full swing, our cozy dark corner of Amoeba Music Hollywood where the Goth /Industrial section lies is seeing lots of great titles come through. We&rsquo;ve hand-picked some recent wax new releases and reissues and are featuring them in our section this month, so crank up your turntable for some of our highlighted dark wonders. <br />
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</strong><span style="font-size: larger;"><strong>Sturmpercht</strong> <em>Schattenlieder</em> (Ahnstern)</span><br />
3-sided double-LP in gatefold-cover with etched vinyl on the 4th side. The masters of Pagan Folk are back with their new album <em>Schattenlieder - eine kleine Nachtmusik f&uuml;r Waldteufel und Berggeister</em>. The album features 20 diverse and unique <strong><img height="203" align="left" width="226" alt="Sturmpercht" style="border: 8px solid white;" src="http://www.amoeba.com/admin/uploads/blog/Aaron_D/schattenlieder.jpg" /></strong>songs full of alpine mysticism, heathen legends and tales about strange fairies and pagan rites. <em>Schattenlieder</em> entrains you into deep forests, arcane mountains and dark chasms and guides you to hidden places in the depth of the central European forests, where hunters meet strange creatures from dusk til dawn. The album varies between gnarled songs about creepy fairies, catchy folk hymns and dark songs dealing with alpine myths, forest tales and hunter sagas. <em>Schattenlieder</em> is the perfect soundtrack for misty autumn evenings as well as for dark winter nights. The album features a large variety of instruments and sounds -- obscure, strange, folky, psychedelic, but always original and weird, in Sturmpercht's very unique way. <em>Schattenlieder</em> is completely unpredictable -- each track a standalone, but contributing to the overall ambiance of this new benchmark within the Pagan Folk genre. Not for everyone, but a truly bizarre and wonderful release! <br />
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<embed height="25" width="300" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="false" src=" http://www.youtube.com/v/AFA6MEj2IXE&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed><br />
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<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: larger;"><strong>Ruby Throat</strong> <em>The Ventriloquist </em>(The Lovers' Will)</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">The deluxe double vinyl LP edition of the classic<img height="219" align="right" width="246" src="http://www.amoeba.com/admin/uploads/blog/Aaron_D/rubythroat_ventriloquist.jpg" style="border: 8px solid white;" alt="Ruby Throat Ventriloquist Cover" /> Folk-Noir recording <em>The Ventriloquist</em> by Ruby Throat. Limited to 300 hand-numbered copies in a reverse-board gatefold sleeve and including a full colour insert, this is the first time this gorgeous recording&ndash; originally self-released on CD in 2007&ndash; has been issued on vinyl by Los Angeles-based label <strong>The Lovers' Will Records &amp;&nbsp;Press</strong>! Ruby Throat is a bewitching duo from London, UK and is compromised of vocalist <strong>KatieJane Garside</strong> (Daisy Chainsaw, Queenadreena) and guitarist <strong>Chris Wittingham</strong>. Garside&rsquo;s voice is much like <em>The Ventriloquist</em>&rsquo;s subject matter &ndash; riding on a dark line between the ethereal and the visceral. The album is made up of psychosexual musings, spectral visions, stark murder balladry and other transgressive tales delicately surrounded by the Psychedelic dream-wrap and pastoral strumming of Wittingham. It also holds a high spot on our previously-posted list of the <a href="http://www.amoeba.com/blog/2009/12/black-light-district/black-light-district-s-best-dark-music-albums-of-the-00-s.html">20 Best Dark Music Albums of The '00's</a>. Recommended if you like PJ&nbsp;Harvey, Current 93, Mazzy Star, and WIll Oldham.</div>
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<embed height="385" width="480" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/3UimJBohc6g&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;rel=0"></embed><br />
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Thu, 06 May 2010 01:00:00 GMThttp://www.amoeba.com/rss-link/blog/2010/05/black-light-district/amoeba-hollywood-s-featured-and-upcoming-goth-industrial-vinyl-releases.htmlXasthur and Marissa Nadler Collaborate On Genre Bending New Album<img height="358" align="left" width="314" src="http://www.amoeba.com/admin/uploads/blog/Aaron_D/up-xas.jpg" alt="Xasthur" style="border: 8px solid white;" /><br />
Fresh in the racks at Amoeba Music Hollywood just <em>today</em> is the wonderfully bleak and dissonant <strong><em>Portal of Sorrow</em></strong> (via <a href="http://xasthurnews.blogspot.com/"><strong>Disharmonic Variations</strong></a>), a truly collaborative effort by the one-man depressive black metal band<strong> <a href="http://xasthurnews.blogspot.com/">Xasthur</a> </strong>and ethereal folkie <a href="http://marissanadler.blogspot.com/"><strong>Marissa Nadler</strong></a>. <strong>Scott Conner,</strong> aka <strong>Malefic</strong>, the man behind Xasthur, recently announced that this would be the absolute final release under the Xasthur banner. Oh! And what a glorious end it is! Upon first spin, <em>Portal</em> is easily recognizable as the best of Conner&rsquo;s last few releases and will likely hold up as one of the touchstones in the Xasthur discography and beyond -- wherever Conner decides to go next. <br />
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The album announces its individuality in the Xasthur catalog with acoustic guitars that swirl around a plodding dirge enveloped by the ghostly purrs of Nadler. Eventually this lovely and melancholic breath is absconded away by the brief shattering sounds of glass and horror-film -orchestra stabs that leads into the cascade of bizarrely mixed buzzsaw guitar, Deathrock-like bass warbles and clattering cardboard box drums of the second track, &ldquo;Broken Glass Christening.&rdquo; The song is then shortstopped by an ominous piano, Malefic&rsquo;s anguished shrieks and further apparitional lacing from Nadler. For all the album&rsquo;s sorrowful moments, there are flashes in half-light, like the lovely &ldquo;Mourning Tomorrow,&rdquo; which infiltrates the album&rsquo;s tracklist like a Folk-Noir <strong>Cocteau Twins</strong>. The LP lacks any monotonous riffing or repetition usually found in the gloomier end of the Black Metal genre, and aside from the above mentioned instrumentation, incorporates <img height="258" align="right" width="323" src="http://www.amoeba.com/admin/uploads/blog/Aaron_D/marissa.jpg" style="border: 8px solid white;" alt="Marissa Nadler" />synthesizer and organ which supply some very dreamy yet crestfallen ambiance. <br />
<br /><div style="clear: both;"><a style="font-size:13px;" href="/blog/2010/04/black-light-district/xasthur-and-marissa-nadler-collaborate-on-genre-bending-new-album.html">Continue reading...</a></div>http://www.amoeba.com/rss-link/blog/2010/04/black-light-district/xasthur-and-marissa-nadler-collaborate-on-genre-bending-new-album.html
Sat, 24 Apr 2010 03:00:00 GMThttp://www.amoeba.com/rss-link/blog/2010/04/black-light-district/xasthur-and-marissa-nadler-collaborate-on-genre-bending-new-album.htmlTor Lundvall's Latest Spectral Masterpiece; Plus Hollywood's Goth / Industrial New Releases<img height="254" align="left" width="257" src="http://www.amoeba.com/admin/uploads/blog/Aaron_D/ghostyearslundvall.jpeg" style="border: 8px solid white;" alt="Tor Lundvall Ghost Years" /><a href="http://www.torlundvall.com"><strong><br />
Tor Lundvall</strong></a>, famous for his outstanding <a href="http://www.torlundvall.com/gallery.asp">paintings</a>, has a very haunting style. The figures in his gorgeous landscape paintings are at once ghostly and earthly, ethereal and organic. The feeling one gets when staring into his soft but rich work is isolation, but not loneliness. It&rsquo;s a remoteness with Spirits, a communion with nature where a gateway to shadowy unknown worlds exist. No surprise then that his work as a musician seems to perfectly score his stunning visual art. Though he made a limited private press album of Industrial music in 1997,&nbsp; Lundvall's first big waves in music came in the form of a 1998 collaborative effort with <a href="http://www.tursa.com/"><strong>Tony Wakeford</strong></a> (of <strong>Sol Invictus</strong> and <strong>Death in June</strong> fame), entitled <strong><em>Autumn Calls</em></strong>. The album, though equally billed between the two artists, was mostly a Lundvall affair with some minor embellishments from Wakeford and other guests. <em>Autumn</em> is full of&nbsp; the warm yet effecting dark ambient soundscapes that Tor has continued to mine with increasingly finer results with each successive release. Recently, his exceptional 10th full-length, <strong><em>Sleeping and Hiding</em></strong> (via <a href="http://www.amoeba.com/blog/2009/08/black-light-district/dais-records-unearths-coum-transmissions.html"><strong>Dais Records</strong></a>), made our <strong><a href="http://www.amoeba.com/blog/2009/12/black-light-district/black-light-district-s-top-dark-music-albums-of-2009.html">Best of 2009</a> </strong>and our <a href="http://www.amoeba.com/blog/2009/12/black-light-district/black-light-district-s-best-dark-music-albums-of-the-00-s.html"><strong>Best of The Decade lists</strong></a> and now his just released CD collection, <strong><em>Ghost Years</em></strong>, is likely to make 2010&rsquo;s.<br />
<br /><div style="clear: both;"><a style="font-size:13px;" href="/blog/2010/04/black-light-district/tor-lundvall-s-latest-spectral-masterpiece-plus-hollywood-s-goth-industrial-new-releases.html">Continue reading...</a></div>http://www.amoeba.com/rss-link/blog/2010/04/black-light-district/tor-lundvall-s-latest-spectral-masterpiece-plus-hollywood-s-goth-industrial-new-releases.html
Fri, 16 Apr 2010 01:45:00 GMThttp://www.amoeba.com/rss-link/blog/2010/04/black-light-district/tor-lundvall-s-latest-spectral-masterpiece-plus-hollywood-s-goth-industrial-new-releases.htmlApril Shower Soundtracks: Hollywood's Featured Goth / Industrial etc. Releases<img height="313" align="left" width="320" src="http://www.amoeba.com/admin/uploads/blog/Aaron_D/crystelles.jpg" style="border: 8px solid white;" alt="Gitane Demone, Christian Death, Crystelles" />&nbsp; <br />
California, for all its famed sunshine, has historically fostered some pretty dark and cloudy musical ventures. From<strong> </strong>the original<strong> Christian Death</strong> and<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Von_(band)"> <strong>Von</strong></a> on to <a href="http://www.myspace.com/cuckoocachoo"><strong>The Vanishing</strong></a> and <a href="http://www.myspace.com/leviathanx666x"><strong>Leviathan</strong></a>, this state has produced some of the greatest and most well-known Dark musical acts. That tradition strongly continues today, as all four of our featured releases this month are from quite excellent, decidedly shaded, California-based artists. <a href="http://www.myspace.com/thecrystelles"><strong>The Crystelles</strong></a>' <strong><em>Attach and Detach</em></strong> is a wonderfully raw, gothy &amp; garagey blues LP featuring the wildly soulful wail and musings of former Christian Death member <strong>Gitane DeMone</strong>. The Los Angeles-based band&rsquo;s lineup also features Demone&rsquo;s daughter (<a href="http://www.clairobscurgallery.com/current.htm">who is also a reknowned and quite amazing surrealistic painter</a>), <strong>Zara Kand</strong>, on drums. The vinyl-only release is composed of 12 dirty and volatile tracks that Gitane herself calls &lsquo;Death Blues&rsquo; and also includes a gorgeous 28 page Lyric &amp; Art book. This is an essential release and is stacking up already to be one of our favorite releases this year. <br />
<em><img height="202" align="right" width="201" src="http://www.amoeba.com/admin/uploads/blog/Aaron_D/frankalpine.jpg" style="border: 8px solid white;" alt="Frank Alpine, Xeno Oaklander, Dais Records, Synthpop" /></em><br />
Another current &ldquo;local to L.A.&rdquo; favorite of ours is Minimal-Synth project<a href="http://www.myspace.com/frankalpine"> <strong>Frank Alpine</strong></a>. Alpine released a 7&rdquo; this past year via the always superb <a href="http://www.daisrecords.com"><strong>Dais Records</strong></a> entitled&nbsp;<strong><em>Night Tripper</em>,</strong> and also just self-released a CD version of the previously cassette-only release <strong><em>Keyboard Cassette</em>.</strong> Frank Alpine&rsquo;s mastermind is former <a href="http://www.myspace.com/newcollapse"><strong>New Collapse</strong></a> drummer <strong>Rich Bitch</strong>, however Alpine&rsquo;s cold atmospheres are far-removed from his former band&rsquo;s spastic synth-freakouts. Tracks vary from spare, chilling ambience to full-on <strong>John Carpenter</strong>-worship (like B-side &ldquo;Another Land&rdquo;). Both <em>Night Tripper</em> and <em>Keyboard Cassette</em> are only available in limited quantities, so don&rsquo;t slack!<br />
<a href="http://www.myspace.com/wormouroboros"><img height="174" align="left" width="183" alt="" src="http://www.amoeba.com/admin/uploads/blog/Aaron_D/wormouroboroscover.jpg" style="border: 8px solid white;" /></a><br />
The Bay Area&rsquo;s <a href="http://www.myspace.com/wormouroboros"><strong>W</strong><strong>orm Ouroboros</strong></a> features <strong>Amber Asylum</strong>, <strong>The Gault</strong> and <strong>World <br />
E</strong><strong>ater</strong>alums and its self-titled debut CD (via <a href="http://www.profoundlorerecords.com/"><strong>Profound Lore</strong></a>) mixes Doomy riffing, Dark Ambient, and ethereal Folk harmonies fluidly into a dazzling and crystalline pool of sound. The album also features beautiful Digipak and booklet art by bassist/vocalist <strong>Lorraine Rath</strong>, revealing her to be an equally soul-stirring visual artist and vocalist. The only thing that isn&rsquo;t perfect about this release is that it is not available on vinyl. Please get with it, Profound Lore! <br />
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Thu, 08 Apr 2010 01:30:00 GMThttp://www.amoeba.com/rss-link/blog/2010/04/black-light-district/april-shower-soundtracks-hollywood-s-featured-goth-industrial-etc-releases.htmlShadow Dancing in The Desert: Fever Ray Hits Coachella<img height="262" align="left" width="235" style="border: 8px solid white;" alt="Fever Ray" src="http://www.amoeba.com/admin/uploads/blog/Aaron_D/Fever+Ray.png" /><br />
Reason 1,867,456,378 those Indio bound this Spring have cause for celebration: <strong>Karin Dreijer Andersson</strong> aka <a href="http://www.feverray.com"><strong>Fever Ray</strong></a> is bringing her astonishing stage show to <a target="_blank" href="http://www.coachella.com/">Coachella</a> this year. And that is exactly what she brings: a stage <em>show</em>. Fever Ray&rsquo;s 2009 Lynchian performance at The Fonda was one of the most visually evocative and vividly memorable Pop music shows I&rsquo;ve ever attended. Stage set with an array of blinking antique lamps, Andersson appeared through heavy smoke and incense decked out in a colorful quilt-like shroud and a head-dress that could have come straight off of one of the<em> <a href="http://wherethewildthingsare.warnerbros.com/dvd/">Wild Things</a></em>. Anderrson served as the ringmaster over a band of masked men (which features <em>Fever Ray</em> album collaborators <a href="http://www.myspace.com/vanriversandthesubliminalkid"><strong>Van Rivers &amp; The Subliminal Kid</strong></a>) for an intense 12 song set that also featured a bevy of stoner-ready laserlight grids that created an eerie green virtual ceiling for the living-room-in-the-middle-of the-woods/Pagan-Seance vibe that she appeared to be going for. But unlike most high-spectacle Pop concerts, Fever Ray&rsquo;s presentation was not done to mask low-quality/without-meaning Pop songs, it was there to enhance the stark, supernatural atmosphere and sometimes even somber moods of her songs. During &ldquo;Keep The Streets Empty For Me,&rdquo; the &lsquo;virtual laser ceiling&rsquo; lowered over the crowd to make the large space seem uncomfortably intimate, if not claustrophobic, then dissipated just as Andersson intoned, &ldquo;Uncover our heads and reveal our souls.&rdquo; <br />
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Thu, 01 Apr 2010 17:00:00 GMThttp://www.amoeba.com/rss-link/blog/2010/04/black-light-district/shadow-dancing-in-the-desert-fever-ray-hits-coachella.htmlBIRTH! Relights the California Synthpunk Torch<a href="http://www.myspace.com/thesubtonix"><img height="273" align="left" width="222" src="http://www.amoeba.com/admin/uploads/blog/Aaron_D/birthhollywood-thumb-480x650.jpg" style="border: 8px solid white;" alt="Birth! Synthpunk" /></a><br />
California&rsquo;s music underground has had a certain strain of Gothy Synthpunk running through its veins for over a decade now. In the late Nineties and early Aughts, bands like San Francisco&rsquo;s <a href="http://www.myspace.com/thephantomlimbs"><strong>Phantom Limbs</strong></a> and <a href="http://www.myspace.com/thesubtonix"><strong>Subtonix</strong></a> and LA&rsquo;s <a href="http://www.myspace.com/newcollapse"><strong>New Collapse</strong></a> delivered heavy doses of frenetic, trashy and dark Synth-based punk heavily influenced by 70&rsquo;s seminal LA groups like <a href="http://www.myspace.com/screamers "><strong>The Screamers</strong> </a>and <a href="http://www.nervousgender.com/"><strong>Nervous Gender</strong></a> with liberal dashes of O.G. LA Deathrockers <a href="http://www.myspace.com/theoriginalchristiandeathtribute"><strong>Christian Death</strong>,</a> the UK <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batcave_(club)">Batcave</a> scene, and a noticeable pull from 90&rsquo;s West Coast Post-Hardcore and Punk. Picking up this torch left dwindling for some years is the LA-based one-man band, <a href="http://www.myspace.com/thisheadisforburning"><strong>BIRTH!</strong></a> AKA <strong>Douglas Halbert </strong>(also of Industrial noise-purveyors <a href="http://www.myspace.com/elephantskull"><strong>Elephant Skull</strong></a>). BIRTH!&rsquo;s full-length debut, <strong><em>I Will</em>,</strong> is an exemplary addition to the pantheon of California Deathrock and Synthpunk &ndash; raw yet compelling anthems soaked in funeral organ and cutting old-school Hardcore vocals. <br />
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<em>I Will</em>&rsquo;s opener, &ldquo;Value,&rdquo; is a classic Deathrock stomper in the vein of Christian Death&rsquo;s &ldquo;Face&rdquo; or Subtonix&rsquo;s &ldquo;Black Nails In My Coffin&rdquo; with an extra dose of bile. On &ldquo;Arms Crossed,&rdquo; Halbert simultaneously skewers the apathy of a prospective lover and <img align="right" src="http://www.amoeba.com/admin/uploads/blog/Aaron_D/BIRTH-IWILL-cide062.jpg" style="border: 8px solid white; width: 160px; height: 160px;" alt="" />the affected apathy of punk-show spectators over a filthy Sci-Fi dirge. However, despite the throat-destroying, incendiary vocals, there is a sensitivity and creeping light at the heart of this seemingly vicious animal of a record. &ldquo;My Home To Keep&rdquo; is what one might call a &ldquo;Deathrock power ballad,&rdquo; -- if one can imagine such a thing. Over a downright pretty synth melody, Halbert <span>characterizes </span>childhood traumas following a mother&rsquo;s death, but even with such intense subject matter and the general crestfallen atmosphere, Halbert&rsquo;s lyrics still have a defiantly positive outlook. On &ldquo;Value&rdquo; he ends his rant with the line &ldquo;I'll look inside myself and find a life I can value!&rdquo; and one can truly believe his insistent tone on &ldquo;Free of This&rdquo; when he bellows, &ldquo;I am free of this!&rdquo; I<em> Will,</em> indeed, seems to be Halbert&rsquo;s will --his sigil--for a better life. <br />
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Sun, 28 Feb 2010 23:30:00 GMThttp://www.amoeba.com/rss-link/blog/2010/02/black-light-district/birth-relights-the-california-synthpunk-torch.htmlGetting to Know...Xeno & Oaklander<img align="left" alt="Xeno &amp; Oaklander" height="295" src="http://www.amoeba.com/admin/uploads/blog/Aaron_D/XenoOaklander-03.jpg" style="border: 8px solid white;" width="352" /><br />
In the tradition of the DIY <a href="http://www.amoeba.com/blog/2010/02/black-light-district/who-s-really-listening-the-minimal-wave-tapes-volume-one-.html">Minimal Wave</a> and Synthpop bands of the 1980&#39;s, <strong><a href="http://xenoandoaklander.com/">Xeno &amp;&nbsp;Oaklander</a> </strong>make music with strict guidelines: no digital instruments or recording. The New York-based duo of <strong>Sean McBride</strong> (of the quite excellent synth-project <a href="http://www.myspace.com/martialcanterel"><strong>Martial Canterel</strong></a>) and <a href="http://www.lizwendelbo.com/"><strong>Liz Wendelbo</strong> </a>implemented the exclusive use of analogue synthesizers, instruments and equipment to write and record their darkly brilliant debut full-length, <strong><em>Sentinelle</em> </strong>(one of our <a href="http://www.amoeba.com/blog/2009/12/black-light-district/black-light-district-s-top-dark-music-albums-of-2009.html">20 Dark Music albums of 2009</a>,on the always-superb <a href="http://www.wierdrecords.com/"><strong>Wierd Records</strong></a>). Recently, I got the chance to have the band expand on these principles as they were preparing for a series of upcoming globe-trotting <a href="http://xenoandoaklander.com/?page_id=58">live dates</a> in New York, Rotterdam and Paris. Please, get to know...Xeno &amp; Oaklander.<br />
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Black Light District: First things first. Why is analogue better than digital? </strong><br />
<strong><br />
Liz Wedelbo:</strong> Analogue is immediate and raw. <strong>Sean McBride:</strong> It&#39;s alive -- a current which can be shaped in infinite ways. It&#39;s quite elemental, like fire.<br />
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BLD: <em>Sentinelle</em> is available on CD and LP, but being an exclusively analogue band in a digital age, do you prefer vinyl? Your presentation as a band seems pretty complete in sound, concept and artwork &ndash; so in the age of downloads and streaming, how important is the physical piece to you? </strong><br />
<strong><br />
LW:</strong> I&#39;m fond of the weight of objects. <strong>SM</strong>: The physicality of vinyl has some earthly origin. <strong>LW</strong>: ...with traces, marks and scratches.<br />
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Mon, 15 Feb 2010 22:15:00 GMThttp://www.amoeba.com/rss-link/blog/2010/02/black-light-district/getting-to-know-xeno-oaklander.htmlWho's Really Listening?: The Minimal Wave Tapes, Volume One <img align="left" alt="" style="border: 8px solid white; width: 264px; height: 264px;" src="http://www.amoeba.com/admin/uploads/blog/Aaron_D/minimalwavev1.jpg" /><br />
Over the last few years, Amoeba Music Hollywood has stocked a slew of obscure but quite excellent and endlessly exciting limited-edition vinyl reissues of DIY European and North American dark and minimal analog synth-based music from the 1980&rsquo;s -- all thanks to the stellar underground label <a href="http://www.minimal-wave.org"><strong>Minimal Wave</strong></a>. Originally these recordings were released in <em>ridiculously</em> small quantities either on cassette or vinyl by the bands themselves or by equally-unknown labels local to the band. Albums by the likes of Spanish Industrial pioneers <a href="http://www.geometrikrecords.com/esplendor/"><strong>Esplendor Geometrico</strong></a>, the Belgian <strong>Linear Movement</strong> (featuring <strong>Peter Bonne</strong> of New Beat progenitors <strong>A Split Second</strong>), and French New Wavers <a href="http://www.myspace.com/martindupont"><strong>Martin Dupont</strong> </a> have all recently seen the light of day on quality vinyl pressings via the loving care of the Minimal Wave label. <br />
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Minimal Wave&rsquo;s label head/&uuml;berfan <strong>Veronica Vasicka</strong> struck a deal late last year with <strong>Peanut Butter Wolf</strong>&rsquo;s <strong>Stones Throw</strong> label to issue a series of &ldquo;best-of&rdquo; compilations featuring choice cuts from the MW roster and beyond. Recently, the popularity of new minimal synth-based bands like <a href="http://www.amoeba.com/blog/2009/07/black-light-district/cold-cave-love-comes-close-to-perfection.html"><strong>Cold Cave</strong></a> and <a href="http://www.amoeba.com/blog/2009/12/black-light-district/black-light-district-s-top-dark-music-albums-of-2009.html"><strong>Xeno &amp; Oaklander</strong></a> has heightened, making this the perfect time to issue the first in the series of Minimal Wave/Stones Throw team-ups,<strong> <em>The Minimal Wave Tapes, Volume One</em> (available on CD and 2LP)</strong>. It is a wonderful thing to hear these rescued gems and decades-old transmissions mostly recorded in isolated bedrooms miles away from any bustling cityscapes.<em> Volume One</em> very much invokes a familiar nostalgic feeling, like a mixtape would from your way-cooler friend or older sibling did in your formative years. Vasicka functions here as that cooler friend or sister and thankfully, she doesn&rsquo;t mind spreading her cool around -- making us ear-opening mixes from her even-cooler record collection.<br />
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Tue, 02 Feb 2010 00:00:00 GMThttp://www.amoeba.com/rss-link/blog/2010/02/black-light-district/who-s-really-listening-the-minimal-wave-tapes-volume-one-.htmlSwans Are NOT Dead<img width="285" height="404" align="left" src="http://www.amoeba.com/admin/uploads/blog/Aaron_D/MG_ArnoDeclair_87_large.jpg" style="border: 8px solid white;" alt="" /><br />
According to the group's <a href="http://www.myspace.com/swansaredead">official Myspace page</a>, <strong>Swans</strong> are back! <strong>Michael Gira</strong> --who has most recently performed as<a href="http://www.myspace.com/theangelsoflight"> <strong>Angels of Light</strong></a>-- has announced a reconfigured lineup for the group, as well as plans for an LP (their first in 14 years) via Gira's <a href="http://www.younggodrecords.com/">Young God </a>imprint and a new tour.&nbsp; Strangely, no mention is made of longtime Swans member/colloborator <a href="http://www.thelivingjarboe.com/"><strong>Jarboe</strong></a>. <br />
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<em><strong>From the Swans Myspace Blog:</strong></em><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><em>principal players on the swans album are (and there will be many special guests):</em></div>
<div style="text-align: center;"><em><br />
</em></div>
<div style="text-align: center;"><em>Michael Gira / gtr / voice / mendicant friar act &nbsp;(original swans)</em></div>
<div style="text-align: center;"><em><br />
</em></div>
<div style="text-align: center;"><em>Norman Westberg &ndash; Guitar (original swans)</em></div>
<div style="text-align: center;"><em><br />
</em></div>
<div style="text-align: center;"><em>Christophj Hahn &ndash; Guitar (mid period swans and most angels)</em></div>
<div style="text-align: center;"><em><br />
</em></div>
<div style="text-align: center;"><em>Phil Puleo &ndash; Drums, percussion, dulcimer etc etc &nbsp;(final swans tour and most angels)</em></div>
<div style="text-align: center;"><em><br />
</em></div>
<div style="text-align: center;"><em>Chris Pravdica &ndash; Bass and gadgets (flux information sciences / services/ gunga din)</em></div>
<div style="text-align: center;"><em><br />
</em></div>
<div style="text-align: center;"><em>Thor Harris, Drums, percussion, vibes, dulcimer, curios, &nbsp;etc etc... (angels, now also with shearwater)</em></div>
<div style="text-align: center;"><em><br />
</em></div>
<div style="text-align: center;"><em>Angels Of Light is temporarily on hold while gira pursues his &ldquo;new&rdquo; project...</em></div>
<!--- blogger's current book/movie/music/games ---> <br />
Exciting and excellent news! Let's celebrate with video!!:<br />
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Tue, 12 Jan 2010 01:20:00 GMThttp://www.amoeba.com/rss-link/blog/2010/01/black-light-district/swans-are-not-dead.html